Take steps to lower risk of flu

January 27, 2015 12:11 AM

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Just as the number of hospitalizations and deaths from the flu pushed it into epidemic status this month, the other shoe dropped. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that this year’s flu vaccine is only about 23 percent effective at preventing this illness. It makes you wonder if there’s any real way to stay well.

A: The flu vaccine is designed each year to work against the three or four influenza strains that are expected to be most common. This year, one of the viruses the scientists chose – the one that causes the most severe illness – started to change, or “drift,” after the vaccine was designed and in pr...